Shengang Fu'an Temple ( zh, t=伸港福安宮, p=Shēngǎng Fú'ān Gōng) is a temple located in Shengang Township,

Changhua County Changhua (Wade-Giles: ''Chang¹-hua⁴'') is a Taiwanese County (Taiwan), county that is the smallest on the Geography of Taiwan, main island of Taiwan by area, and the fourth smallest in the country. With a total population of 1.24 million, Chan ...

, Taiwan. The temple is dedicated to the sea goddess

Mazu Mazu or Matsu is a sea goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. She is also known by several other names and titles. Mazu is the deified form of Lin Moniang (), a shamaness from Fujian who is said to ...

, who is the deified form of Lin Moniang. In 2015, a large portion of the temple was destroyed in a fire. The temple is currently being reconstructed.

History

Fu'an Temple's history traces back to its establishment in 1677 by

Quanzhou Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city, prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China, People's Republic of China. It is Fujian's largest most populous metropolitan region, wi ...

settlers from mainland China. According to legend, after a fisherman picked up a piece of driftwood, Mazu appeared and instructed him to construct a temple, using the driftwood as material for the statue. During Japan's rule over Taiwan, the temple was completely rebuilt between 1917 and 1918. The temple was then expanded in 1971 and 1993, and a

paifang A ''paifang'', also known as a ''pailou'', is a traditional style of Chinese architecture, often used in arch or gateway structures. Etymology The word ''paifang'' ( zh, c=牌坊, p=páifāng) was originally a collective term for the top two le ...

in front of the temple was added in 1980. On 16 May 2015 at around 11:00 PM, a fire broke out within Fu'an Temple and engulfed most of the temple. Two days later, temple officials found the remains of two wooden Mazu statues inside the temple: the Zhendian Mazu statue (鎮殿媽祖) was charred beyond recognition, and the Kaiji Mazu statue (開基媽祖) was completely burned into ash. The only surviving Mazu statue was not inside the temple because it was to be used in a festival the following week; after the fire, it was immediately brought back and placed in the remains of the temple. A

groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, turf-cutting, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such cer ...

ceremony for the temple's reconstruction was held on 4 April 2018, three years after the fire due to land use issues.

Traditions

As the primary Mazu temple in the area, the temple hosts an event known as "gifting the

censer A censer, incense burner, perfume burner or pastille burner is a vessel made for burning incense or perfume in some solid form. They vary greatly in size, form, and material of construction, and have been in use since ancient times throughout t ...

" (送大爐). Each year, Fu'an Temple passes an incense censer to one of the eighteen villages in Shengang and

Hemei Hemei Township is an urban township in northwestern Changhua County, Taiwan. It is bordered by the Dadu River to the north, Shengang and Xianxi to the west, Lukang and Xiushui to the south, and Changhua City to the east. History An early n ...

. The censer is placed in the village's main temple, and that temple hosts a celebration for all the villages. The village is chosen through

poe divination Poe divination (, from the Hokkien , Min Dong BUC: ''buăk-buŏi'', 'cast moon blocks', also written ''bwa bwei'', Mandarin ) is a traditional Chinese divination method, in which the diviner throws or drops two small wooden pieces (or occasio ...

. On 12 May 2020, this event was recognized by the

Changhua County Government The Changhua County Government (CHCG; ) is the local government of Changhua County, Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formos ...

as a protected cultural tradition.

References

{{reflist 1677 establishments in Taiwan Religious buildings and structures completed in 1677 Mazu temples in Changhua County